


A Shoulder, If You Need It

by Lady_Sci_Fi



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-19 16:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17004702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Sci_Fi/pseuds/Lady_Sci_Fi
Summary: Liz finds the Doctor hiding and vulnerable in his lab.





	A Shoulder, If You Need It

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Classic Who Secret Santa prompt "Three and Liz- crying," for borrowedmediocrefiction.

 “Doctor?” Liz Shaw called out as she entered the Doctor’s lab at UNIT HQ. She stretched her arms out in front of her, ready for another day. “Doctor?” she called out again, hanging her jacket on the hook by the door. “Are you here?”

 At the lack of an answer, Liz decided to leave the lab to find the man elsewhere in the building, choosing the cafeteria first. Maybe he’d gone for a late breakfast. She turned to the door, but stopped at the sound of a loud shaky breath.

 “Doctor?” Liz asked again, pinpointed the sound to around the Tardis. The door to it was ajar, but the sound hadn’t come from inside. “Please tell me that’s you and not an intruder.”

 She didn’t get an answer, and sighed. She hesitantly stepped across the lab and around to the other side of the Tardis. She resisted the urge to peek inside as she passed the door.

 Liz stopped as the Doctor came into view, sitting slumped back against the side of the Tardis. His knees were drawn up and his arms wrapped around them. His chin rested on top of them as he stared straight ahead.

 Liz crouched down. “Doctor? Are you alright?” Were those tears in his eyes?

 “Oh, hello, Liz.” The Doctor’s voice sounded flat and missing its usual warmth. He didn’t look to her.

 Liz shifted around until she kneeled front of him, and he still didn’t physically react to her presence. From this angle, she could definitely see that those were indeed tears welling in his eyes and trickling down his face.

 The Doctor was crying. There was no denying that fact. It seemed so strange and Liz felt that she shouldn’t be seeing this. They were friends, but this felt so… private. To see him so vulnerable…

 Liz glanced down for a moment, feeling uncomfortable in this situation. When she looked back up, he had put his head down on his knees and hid his face. Liz reached out to touch him, but stopped halfway and let her arm hang in the air between them. “Doctor… are you alright?”

 Another long shaky breath escaped from the man’s mouth, and he lifted his gaze to her. “Sorry. I’m not feeling particularly… sociable.”

 “What’s wrong, if you don’t mind?” Liz lowered her hand between them.

 The Doctor turned his head to the side to avoid the woman’s concerned expression. “Nothing you can do anything about.”

 “Maybe not, but I do have a shoulder, if you need it,” Liz offered.

 The Doctor looked back to her, slightly confused.

 “To cry on. A shoulder to cry on,” Liz clarified.

 “Ah, right.” The Doctor breathed in through his nose and shook his head. He rubbed the back of his neck, and tilted his head back against the blue wood. He raised a hand and wiped his face. He stared at the wetness on his palm for a few seconds before letting it drop.

 Liz tried again. “Anything in particular bring this on? Anything you want to talk about?”

 The Doctor shook his head. Still, Liz didn’t want to leave him alone, sensing that he did need someone with him now. She crawled to his side and sat next to him, cross-legged and back against the Tardis.

 “You don’t have to stay. I’m sure you have better things to do.”

 “I know I don’t have to, but I want to. And anything else can wait.”

 The Doctor nodded his acceptance, and returned to staring straight ahead.

 They sat in quiet. Liz found it awkward to simply sit with him while he mostly-silently cried, but didn’t make any more attempts to persuade him to share what was bothering him. If he wanted to talk, he would. If not, she would still be here for him.

 She did still offer a few minutes later, “My shoulder is still available.”

 It took the Doctor a moment to respond, but he eventually placed his hand over Liz’s on the floor and scooted close enough to lay his head on her shoulder.

 It took the man several more minutes to speak. “I can’t do it,” he said through a shuddered breath.

 “Do what?” Then Liz understood. “The Tardis?”

 “I can’t fix it, can’t make it work. I keep trying, but… nothing.”

 “I’m sorry.”

 The Doctor shrugged. “Nothing for you to apologize for, my dear.” He took a deep breath. “I wonder… I wonder if they knew how difficult this would be on me.” He hummed. “But I suppose that’s the point of a punishment.”

 Liz didn’t know what to say to that, and stayed quiet.

 “And they left the Tardis with me. They didn’t have to, but they did.” The Doctor wiped at his face again, his palm coming away less wet than before. “They exiled me with the means of my freedom, that I can’t use. I know I can’t use it, but I can’t help but keep trying. It hurts, Liz.”

 Liz nuzzled her cheek against the grey hair.

 “It hurts, but I can’t help it. I’m stuck here, with a non-functioning Tardis. Stuck to one time and place.”

 “You don’t have to stay here,” Liz said after another quiet moment.

 The Doctor looked up to her, and Liz couldn’t escape the sadness in his eyes so close to her.

 “You could go somewhere else, if you’re not content here at UNIT.”

 “Perhaps I could, but it’s not that. UNIT’s been good, taking me in like this. Lethbridge-Stewart has been good to me, no matter what else I’ve said about him.” He snorted with a small smile. “I’d appreciate you not telling him I said that.”

 Liz smiled too. “Don’t worry, that secret is safe with me.”

 The Doctor frowned again, and went back to staring out at the lab. Liz could tell there was something else to his exile, something very private. The Brigadier had told her the last time he had seen him, he had been with a young Scottish man and a young woman. Had something happened to them when he had been exiled? He’d been found alone, and hadn’t mentioned his two friends to anyone. Were some of these tears for them?

 Liz decided not to approach that subject. “I’m sorry I can’t do anything about you being stuck here, but… Well, I may be a little biased, but I don’t think this place is so bad.”

 The Doctor looked up to her again, and gave a tiny nod in response. His tears had dried, though the tracks were still visible on his face. His hand over hers tightened as he relaxed against her.

 “Thank you,” the Doctor said in a near-whisper.

 “You’re welcome.” Liz laid her head on his and closed her eyes.


End file.
